All Places Are Distant

A fascinating and quirky look at places in literature and life—whether forests, islands, or oceans—from the Bible to Bruce Springsteen.

All Places Are Distant takes its title from Renaissance polymath Robert Burton's statement that "all places are distant from heaven alike." Like Burton, Ed Simon is a powerhouse scholar who is endlessly curious about, well, everything—from the origins of maps to the nature of childhood memory. Simon examines famous "settings" in literature: the forest in As You Like It, the river in Huckleberry Finn, showing how they both echo and explode our understanding.

All Places Are Distant is a dazzling but accessible tour of the concept of place in literature and in life that shows us how to "read" landscapes, both real or imaginary, in the same way that we read texts. The result is a witty and thought-provoking meditation on the intersection between books and the physical world.

Includes a photo insert with 12 black and white images depicting everything from medieval cities to modern utopias.